- First, Jessica Mayer didn’t mention me once in her 5-page Missoula Independent article today, even after she talked to me for 10 minutes on the phone last week;
- Then, Adam Hertz and John Engen are getting all the glory in her article.
The article’s really a blueprint for running for mayor, in case you haven’t noticed, but then I don’t really expect you to notice a whole lot. I mean, you’re probably much like Jessica – full of underestimation and lack of long-term vision.
That’s fine, I like it that way. So let’s get into it, and maybe it’ll make sense as we go along.
#1 Muck About
It might not be that high-tech, but damn it, it’ll do the job and save a lot of money. So what would I do with that $50,000 saved? Why not start a fund up, kind of like a piggy-bank, to save up for the eventual water company purchase, maybe in a decade.
Folks, that water company was sold to Park Water in California, and at that point we offered $16 million for it. If we start saving now then in 5 to 10 years we’ll have enough money to not raise taxes and we can buy that thing.
#2: Exercise
#3: Cut Salary
That’s why he just gave himself a raise even though he said he wouldn’t. I’d cut my pay, that’s one of the first things I’d do. I don’t need that money and it sends a message – we’re not fucking around anymore.
#4: Pay Residents
Engen has not paid the money these people are owed and I can’t wait until the Missoulian runs that picture of someone on their doorsteps handing them that check.
#5: Fix Roads
How? Simple, we’ll have the money because we won’t be giving it to lawyers and consultants located in New York, Spokane, and California.
#6: Store Evidence
I’ve written and talked about this before, but imagine if some big case happens, one that hinges on some DNA evidence. Well, it was stored in that crappy evidence “room” and some gunk leaked down on it from the hole in the roof and now that case is ruined. Oh, and that was a national case with the media hounds and now everyone’s calling us stupid.
#7: The Fire Ladder
Well, that’s what it sure seems like. I mean, if there’s equipment we need in this town, shouldn’t’ we buy it first and then pay for what we want second? That’s what any common sense person would do, but we don’t have that in Missoula. And that means we have to raise taxes when we should have had this money.
#8: The Smell
See, asking about that might require us to actually get up off our ass and get a camera and some tools and head outside to do a day’s work.
The agony!
You might have to go around neighborhoods, poke around some alleys, maybe even overturn a sewer grate or, God forbid, talk to some actual residents that may actually vote!
When you put it like that I’m not surprised there’s been a smell on the North Side of Missoula for so long, and I’m not expecting it to go away anytime soon either.
#9: Taxes
There’s a city in America called Detroit and they have no industry, they have no jobs and they have no tax revenue. They can’t pay their workers.
In Montana in the 1920s all the eastern counties got into trouble after county splitting and had huge deficits. So did the residents, and the county seized the property, ensuring there’d never by any future tax base.
Missoulians are smart and they’re right to think we’ve been taxed too much. Whether it’s parks for rich out-of-towners or this lawsuit to benefit out-of-state lawyers, Mayor Engen keeps raising taxes to benefit himself and his cronies, all while using the excuse that it’s for the betterment of the community’s future.
Sorry, but I don’t buy that load of BS
#10: Be Honest
- Why does he want to drive the town he was born in right into the ground?
- We can’t afford the water company right now, and public opinion is now turning against it.
- We can’t raise $250 million in taxes in just one year through bond measures.
- We can’t keep expecting to do these same terrible things and have Democrats stay in power.
- We can’t afford to keep this man John Engen in Missoula…for we’re losing good businesses that won’t locate here, residents are moving, and many regular people are getting caught in the crossfire and seeing their earnings potential decrease.
I’m a little bit disappointed that Jessica Mayer of the Missoula Independent didn’t mention me in her story today, but then I’ve come to expect many in Missoula are rather short-sighted. None more so than our mayor.